Falling
by Hermione 2000
Summary: Draco wants to end his life. What better way to make a dramatic statement than by jumping off the top of the astronomy tower? Will anyone stop him? Draco is OOC, you have been warned.


Groaning from the strain of the heavy books she was carrying, Kerry walked into the library ****

Falling

A/N. This could be a one-off story or I might continue it…..you decide!!!:}

Groaning from the strain of the heavy books she was carrying, Kerry walked into the library.

Typical, it's packed. Full of students trying to catch up with last minute homework, she thought scornfully before realising she, too, was one of them.

Worming her way through the crowd, she hastened towards the back of the library where she hoped there would be some spare seats. There were none, well none _she _could sit at anyway. There was one table being given wide berth by the other students, especially Gryffindors like herself. That one table contained Draco Malfoy. It was true that one in three girls at that particular school were head over heels in love with him but even they were terrified with going within a metre of him. His two so-called friends, Crabbe and Goyle, had abandoned him after the holidays. He'd changed; there was no doubt about it. He no longer taunted others in a childlike way but was cold and distant. Perhaps that mystery was what so fascinated the girls. Gritting her teeth, Kerry decided she had no choice and she approached his table with caution but without fear.

'Any one sitting here?' she asked him.

'No, feel free,' came the cold reply.

Glancing suspiciously at him she sat down and opened her book, glancing up at him every so often to see if his posture had changed. It hadn't. He just stared at the back wall, his pale blue eyes lost in thought.

'Are you alright?' asked Kerry, concerned after over ten minutes of this strange behaviour.

'Do you do anything but ask questions?' he answered lazily, still not removing his gaze to look at her.

'So it is true what they say about you, you really are an arrogant pig,' she replied to this calmly, determined not to be intimidated by him.

'Pigs are sensitive, caring and thoughtful creatures. Do I really fit that description?' he answered, finally laying his eyes on her.

'You do know that particular joke is supposed to be made the other way round?'

'I know.'

'Is this Draco Malfoy criticising _himself_?'

'So my fame spreads,' he said, giving a cold chuckle. 'Even the likes of lowly Gryffindors know who I am now.'

Determined not to let this stinging remark hit its target she retaliated.

'Indeed. But I wouldn't call you famous in a good way. Infamous is more like it.'

'Oh, my heart bleeds at that insult, no, really, I'm hurt,' he sneered, returning his gaze to the back wall.

Slamming her book shut she decided she'd rather get it in the neck by Professor McGonagall than spend another minute in his presence.

'Well, seeing as the wall fascinates you so, I must be off. Wouldn't like to disturb your thoughts now, would I?' she said, getting up to leave, her eyes focused on him.

'Don't worry. Tomorrow this table will be all yours.'

Disturbed by this parting remark she walked away yet her thoughts still on the blond haired boy.

Something kept Kerry awake that night. A niggling feeling at the back of her brain that those word might mean something. After about two hours of counting hippogriths, she got up, preparing herself for a night-time wandering around the school. Most of all she loved walking up to the highest Astronomy Tower and watching the stars, twinkling in the distance. Of course there was the possibility of being caught but she had always been lucky so far.

Slipping out of the portrait she made her way down the familiar passageway to the tower. The part she hated most was climbing up the steps to the top. Once she had tried counting them but lost count after about four hundred. Reaching the top she started to see someone already there. Imagining it was Filch, she ducked down in the shadows of the towers. But watching the figure she could see it was definitely not Filch. The body shape was all wrong and there was something familiar about that arrogant posture.

'Draco?' she whispered stepping out of the shadows, noticing the figure was on the very edge of the wall, looking down into the castle grounds.

'Go to bed.'

'What are you doing?' she asked, cautiously approaching him. He still had his back to her and, with his hair ruffled gently in the breeze, he folded his arms and stood still.

'I am going to jump off this Tower. Stupid question really, isn't it? What a mess it will make.' His voice was the same tone as it had been in the library, calm and slightly unnerving.

'You don't need to do that Draco,' said Kerry, injecting kindness into her voice as she prepared to coax him off the low wall.

'Who are you anyway? Why do you care?' he asked, without moving, still staring at the ground.

'My name's Kerry Summers. I'm the girl who you were so rude to in the library, don't you remember?'

'Of course I remember,' he answered scornfully. 'I may be about to commit suicide but that does not necessarily mean that my memory is poor. Summer's eh? Sounds Muggle. You a Mudblood?'

'Half and half actually.'

'Ah, Mudblood then.'

'No half and half,' she said firmly through gritted teeth, still trying to be nice.

'Half blood, Mudblood, they're all the same.'

'I…' she started ready to argue but, realising he was just about to kill himself, she shut up.

Walking closer to him she stopped as he spoke.

'Don't even try to pull me down!'

'I wasn't,' she replied, detecting a note of panic creep into his voice.

Cautiously, never taking her eyes off him, she swung herself onto the wall and sat down, her legs dangling precariously over the edge.

'Why kill yourself?' she asked simply.

'Tomorrow I turn sixteen,' he said in his monotonous voice. 'Do you know what happens to the son's of high-ranked Death Eaters when they turn sixteen?'

'Your dad's a…'

'Yes,' he cut in. 'And you're free to tell everyone now. I will be dead so it will no longer matter. Well do you know?'

She shook her head, hoping he could see her out the corner of his eye for she knew if she tried to speak no words would come out.

'They too become Death Eaters. Regardless of what they want.'

'But wouldn't that be a great honour for you? I mean you always seem so…' She stopped as she struggled to find the words.

'Evil? Yes, I agree. But believe me my father is working through me. I am no more but a puppet. Father? I've always thought as a father as someone to love and protect their child. I have no father.' He voice had become bitter and an icy chill swept through Kerry's body as she heard those last words.

She was about to say something when he began again. She let him talk.

'Oh, of course up to the age of eleven I was brainwashed. Lucius had drummed into me that it was a privilege to be chosen and when I have the Dark Mark burned onto my arm at the age of sixteen I should hold my head up with pride and force people to cower before me.'

He gave a cold chuckle before he continued.

'But then, before I came to Hogwarts, my father decided to do a…ah…demonstration, as his father had done before him. Do you know what he did? He killed a Muggle in front of me. She was a little girl, just over six years old. I never even knew her name. And he killed her. Murdered her, right before my eyes. Instead of a thrill of excitement and vengeance that should course through my veins as it had my fathers, I felt only horror and pity. Pity! Can you believe it? Me. Pity. The cold, heartless Draco Malfoy felt pity for some…Muggle he didn't even know!'

His voice was cracked with emotion as he retold this to her, and he bowed his head, letting his blonde hair fall, covering his face from her scrutinising glare.

'You don't have to become a Death Eater you know,' she said, unable to think of anything else to this horrific story.

'You don't understand,' he said, shaking his head. 'I can't refuse. He'd kill me. I'm going to die anyway. But I would rather die than kill. What's the point? I have to jump, I have no choice.'

'You do have a choice Draco,' she said to him, trying to catch his eye with hers but he stubbornly refused to look at her. 'You can come off this wall and talk sensibly to someone, like…Dumbledore!' she exclaimed with a sudden burst of inspiration. 

'Dumbledore!' he laughed. 'Dumbledore! Dumbledore'd throw me in Azkaban without even listening to the full story! He only ever listens to people like Potter. The things that boy's got away with.'

'You're wrong!' she said. 'And don't bring Harry into it.'

'Why not? He's the main reason why I've had most of the beatings since I came here. Every triumph he has over me results in me being beaten senseless!'

'It's not his fault! He didn't know…'

'Didn't know or didn't care, pick one!'

'Ok, ok!' said Kerry, anxiously wrapping a strand of brown hair round her finger. 'Let's go off the subject of Harry for a moment or I can see we're going to be here all night!'

'Believe me, we won't,' he replied. 'Because I'm going to jump.'

'If you jump off this tower I'm going to jump off after you!' she said recklessly, hoping it wouldn't come to that.

'If that's supposed to change my mind you need to work on your clichés. Why would I care whether you live or die? You're crazy for even trying to stop me from splatting myself over the grounds!'

'Yeah, well, a lot of people say that to me but, to tell you the truth, I'm not the one about to fling myself from the Astronomy Tower. And if that isn't cliché I don't know what is!'

Draco laughed again. 'Well, that was a shit parody of a quote from Titanic!'

'You've been to a…'

'Cinema?' he said. 'Yes, I got bored one summer.'

'You do realise Titanic is a…as the American's say…total chick flick?'

'I know.'

'So what are you going to do now? Slip of the edge screaming like a damsel in distress?'

'You should be so lucky.'

'Draco, sit down a minute,' said Kerry, suddenly becoming serious, tempted to pull at the hem of his robe to coax him.

'Why?'

'Just do it…and, if you really feel the need, you can still fling yourself off.'

Much to her surprise, he obliged and sat down next to her and, surprising her even more, looked her straight in the eye before her spoke.

'So talk.'

Now she had a chance to persuade him not to kill himself she didn't know what to say. Half ideas floated round her head, each one refusing to be caught and made into a sentence.

'Er…don't jump?' she finally stammered.

'Is that is?' he said exasperatedly, taking her eyes off her and looking back out into the night sky. 'We've been here on the edge of a tower, talking for God knows how long and the only words you have for me are "er…'don't jump." Cripes, give the girl a round of applause! Why don't you want me to jump anyway? Didn't you hear the way I was insulting you in the library? And I called you a Mudblood for Christ's sake! Why don't you hate me? You should be rejoicing the fact I'm about to end my life and get out of yours, and everybody else's hair, why not?'

'Because!' she said, raising her voice for the first time. 'Just because, ok? I don't have clue why I like you or even what I'm doing here! I just am! And now I've got myself in too deep! I can't just walk away and let you jump, I can't!'

'You like me?' he said, turning to her and blinking like an astonished owl. 'No one's ever said that to me before.'

'Well, I…' said Kerry, not knowing what to say since he missed the point of the entire speech. She just said she liked him. She didn't even remember the words crossing her brain; they just sort of came out. Did she like him? She must do to be sitting here trying, in her ham-fisted way, to convince him not to kill himself. 'I…' she tried to continue.

'Great,' said Draco, turning away again. 'Even the person trying to save my life doesn't like me. What does that say about the rest of the school?'

'I never said I didn't like you. I just stammered, I…'

'Look, lets not discuss my popularity right now, I know it wouldn't take long, but that isn't the issue right now. What is, is whether you're scared that I might, in a fit of rage, push you off this tower and send you hurtling to your death, hmm?'

That was a new idea. Come to think of it the thought hadn't even crossed Kerry's mind that he might push her off, she had been to busy worrying about him falling off. Then it hit her…

'You said you didn't want to kill people.'

'Did I? Damn!'

'Well, if you want me to go I will,' she said, having a sudden brainwave and scrambling up off the wall. 'Try not to make a mess when you fall, Filch'll be in a temper for days,' she continued, looking back over her shoulder at his astonished face, and, with that, she walked away from him and down the stairs.

'I thought she said she wouldn't walk away…' Draco's voice whispered into the breeze.

Soon after she heard someone scrambling down the stairs after her and she turned around to face Draco, complete disgust on his pale face.

'Were you just going to walk away and let this cold, yet handsome, boy end his life at just sixteen! What kind of a monster are you?'

'My mother's a psychiatrist,' she explained simply and continued on walking down the stairs. Draco followed. 

A/N. That was it….do you think I should continue???!!!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Kerry, the rest belongs to JKR (duh!)


End file.
